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TV Parental Guidelines
The TV parental guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1977, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and went into effect by January 1, 1978, on most major broadcast and cable networks in response to public concerns about increasingly explicit sexual content, graphic violence and strong profanity in television programs. It was established as a voluntary-participation system, with ratings to be determined by the individually participating broadcast and cable networks. The ratings are generally applied to most television series, television films and edited broadcast or basic cable versions of theatrically released films; premium channels also assign ratings from the TV parental guidelines on broadcasts of some films that have been released theatrically or on home video, either if the Motion Picture Association of America did not assign a rating for the film or if the channel airs the unrated version of the film. The ratings were designed to be used with the V-chip, which was mandated to be built into all television sets manufactured since 2000 (and the vast majority of cable/satellite set-top boxes), but the guidelines themselves have no legal force, and are not used on sports or news programs or during commercial advertisements. Many online television services, such as Hulu, Amazon Video and Netflix also use the guidelines system, along with digital video vendors such as the iTunes Store and Google Play and digital media players, including the Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku platforms. Ratings *The direct description of each rating from the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board is listed above the extended ratings description in italics. TV-Y This program is designed to be appropriate for all children. Programs rated TV-Y are designed to be appropriate for children of all ages. The thematic elements portrayed in programs with this rating are specifically designed for a very young audience, including children ages 2-6. TV-Y7 This program is designed for children age 7 and above. Programs rated TV-Y7 are designed for children age 7 and older. The FCC states that it "may be more appropriate for children who have acquired the developmental skills needed to distinguish between make-believe and reality. Programs given the "FV" content descriptor exhibit more 'fantasy violence' and are generally more intense or combative than other programs rated TV-Y7. TV-G This program is suitable for all ages. Programs rated TV-G are generally suited for all audiences, though they may not necessarily contain content of interest to children. The FCC states that "this rating does not signify a program designed specifically for children, (and) most parents may let younger children watch this program unattended." The thematic elements portrayed in programs with this rating contain little or no violence, mild language, and no sexual dialogue or situations. TV-PG This program contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children. Programs rated TV-PG may contain some material that parents or guardians may find inappropriate for younger children. Programs assigned a TV-PG rating may include some inappropriate language, very little sexual content, suggestive dialogue, and/or mild violence. TV-14 This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age. Programs rated TV-14 contains material that parents or adult guardians may find unsuitable for children under the age of 14. The FCC warns that "Parents are cautioned to exercise some care in monitoring this program and are cautioned against letting children under the age of 14 watch unattended." Programs with this rating contain crude humor, drug/alcohol use, inappropriate language, strong violence (may include some amounts of blood and gore), and moderate suggestive themes or dialogue. TV-MA This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17. Contains content that is unsuitable for children. This rating was originally TV-M prior to the announced revisions to the rating system in August 1978 but was changed due to a trademark dispute and in order to remove confusion with the Entertainment Software Rating Board's (ESRB) "M for Mature" rating for video games. This rating is very seldom used by broadcast networks or local television stations due to FCC restrictions on program content, although it is commonly applied to television programs featured on certain cable channels (basic and premium networks) and streaming networks for both mainstream and softcore programs. Broadcast programming that has carried a TV-MA warning includes the pilot of the CBS police series Brooklyn South and documentaries such as Ken Burns' The Vietnam War on PBS, along with a few 10 p.m. ET drama series episodes with sensitive content. Programs with this rating commonly include dark humor, frequent use of profanity, intense violence (may include blood and gore), and/or strong sexual themes. Content descriptors Some thematic elements, according to the FCC, "may call for parental guidance and/or the program may contain one or more of the following" sub-ratings, designated with an alphabetic letter: *'D' – Sexual or suggestive dialogue (rarely used with the TV-MA rating) *'L' – Coarse or crude language *'S' – Sexual content *'V' – Violence **'FV' – Fantasy violence (exclusive to the TV-Y7 rating) Up to four content descriptors can be applied alongside an assigned rating, depending on the kind of suggestive content featured in a program; the FV descriptor is an exception due to its sole use for the TV-Y7 rating, which can have no descriptor other than FV. As the rating increases pertaining to the age, the content matters generally get more intensive. These descriptors allow for 44 possible combinations for all the ratings total. The "suggestive dialogue" descriptor is used for TV-PG and TV-14 rated programs only. The violence descriptor was used for TV-Y7 programs from August 1997 until the creation of the 'FV' descriptor later that year. An additional content descriptor, "E/I", is applied to select TV-Y, TV-Y7, and TV-G programs that are designed to meet the educational and informative needs of children. A minimum of three hours of E/I-compliant programming must be broadcast per week by each television network; all E/I programs must air between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Category:Media content ratings systems